1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to product packaging. Specifically, the invention provides a package for a battery-powered product that allows a potential purchaser to momentarily turn the product on while it is in the package in order to observe the operation of the product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of packages are used for packaging small articles of merchandise and displaying them in retail environments. A non-exhaustive list includes blister packages; cardboard, paper board, and plastic boxes and tubes; and plastic “clamshells.” Many variations of these basic package types have been developed to address particular packaging needs.
In recent years, certain types of products have been packaged for sale in packages that allow a potential purchaser to demonstrate the product while it is still in the package. Such “try-me” packages provide a sales advantage over other types of packaging, since they allow shoppers to actually observe the operation of the product before purchasing it.
Among the products that have been packaged in such “try-me” packages are battery-powered devices having motors that are turned on by means of a switch on the product. “Try-me” packages for such products may incorporate a transparent, deformable “blister” or “clamshell” of thermoformed plastic or similar material. The shopper can actuate the power switch by pressing on the package, which deforms to allow the shopper to press the switch. Ideally, the blister or clamshell is made of a material that will spring back to its original contours when pressure is released.
There must be some means to prevent the switch from being left in the “on” position and draining the batteries in the device. One solution to this problem is to use a momentary contact switch that automatically returns to the “off” position when pressure on the switch is released.
Certain battery-powered products present a particular challenge for the use of “try-me” packaging. These are products that, because of safety concerns, have a separate safety-lock button that must be depressed before the power switch can be actuated to turn the device on. Two examples are a battery-powered grass shear and a battery-powered weed and grass trimmer. If a battery-powered grass shear is provided with such a safety-lock button to guard against accidental activation, merely allowing a user to press the power switch through the packaging will not be sufficient to turn the product on unless the package has some means for holding the safety-lock button in the depressed position or allowing the user access to the safety-lock button. No previously known package provides such a feature.